Archive for the ‘Accessibility’ Category

Over the past several months volunteers from the Friends and Sustrans have continued their excellent efforts to maintain and improve the Loop. Recent activities have included a spring litter-pick, managing the saplings along the Loop edges, wildflower sowing and improving the grassed area at the Levenshulme quadrants!

New volunteers are always welcome so if anyone would like to come along and help from time to time (it doesn’t have to be every Thursday) then please get in touch!

The Friends have recently undertaken a major revamp of our map and guide to the Loop. This is now complete, and has gone to the printers for an initial print-run of 10,000 copies.

The map A3 page contains much more detail on how to reach other cycle routes from the Loop (e.g., the Trans-Pennine Trail in both directions, the Ashton and Bridgewater canals, the route to Salford Quays and the different routes to the city centre), as well as showing more parks and green spaces. It also distinguishes which of the entrances are accessible for non-standard bikes.

The guide page is now divided into eight panels (instead of six) and can fit easily into the pocket. The front and back panels explain what the Fallowfield Loop consists of; inside the first fold are panels headed THEN and NOW, with the former giving a brief history of the old railway line, and the latter showing its present transformation into a Greenway and wildlife corridor. The remaining panels deal with volunteering, cycling and walking contacts, use by the disabled and basic rules of the Loop (‘share with care’) respectively.

The PDF versions of the new map and guide are available on our Maps page.

Further to the positive response to the opening of barriers on the Loop, the Friends have been delighted that the Mayor of Manchester Carl Austin-Behan and his Consort Simon Austin-Behan have joined in, with a tandem ride to help celebrate the removal of the barriers and easier access to and along the path! The Lord Mayor and his Consort also met local volunteers and members of the Friends to mark the occasion. Further details are on Sustrans’ website.

Sustrans has published a news item describing how people with disabilities, parents cycling with children, tandem riders, and standard bicycle riders have overwhelmingly welcomed the trial opening of barriers on the Fallowfield Loop! Read more on this here.

Feedback received on the trial of open barriers on the Loop and the results of the Friends’ surveys (online and face-to-face) have now been collated. A fuller report will be completed and published in due course, but meanwhile this summary report is being shared with Sustrans for discussion.